Happening Today

Edmonton Headlines: Monday, July 24, 2017

They finally really did it

Written by Jeff Samsonow

All the white guys are happy today.

The big news in Edmonton over the weekend was from a little further south. Coverage was focused in Red Deer for the Wildrose Party’s unity vote, then Calgary for the PC Party results, with an eye on the Alberta-wide story. Yes, the province’s two conservative parties voted to become one.

While the ultimate result of all this will have an impact in Edmonton, a lot of the action is going to be outside of our city until the Alberta Legislature sits again in the fall. Conservative battlegrounds are mostly in rural Alberta (with a bit of Calgary), so there probably won’t be a lot of wooing going on here from this new party. There will, however, be some wooing from all the “progressive” conservatives who fled the PC Party before, during and after Jason Kenney’s march to its leadership.

And the second is, after the new leadership race wraps at the end of October, it will hopefully mean Alberta’s conservative parties and politicians start to focus on government policy and the future of our province, after more than two years of complaining about the NDP, whining about “accidental” governments and scrambling around for the best way to grasp power. One can hope, anyway.

Around the city

Holyrood is in the news a bit recently because of a big transit-oriented development planned near a new LRT station in the community. But is it too much for a sleepy mature neighbourhood that’s in need of some renewal and densification? It’s been in the works for a while, so it would be a shame to be derailed over problems that could easily be worked into the plans.

The last of the fur traders is returning to the north. It’s always interesting to be reminded of Edmonton’s link to the territories and northern Canada, which is our unique position being such a large city this far up in southern Canada.

Here are a couple of other links I found interesting. This article about couple’s counselling is a good entry to thinking about this as part of any relationship. There’s nothing wrong with talking to a psychologist or counsellor (I’ve done it for years) and it’s great to see this article put that in front of people thinking about their marriages and partnerships. It’s another reason it would be great to have more mental health supports and services covered by the government (regular counselling can be a bit pricy and private health insurance plan coverage will vary).

And Vue Weekly’s Best of Edmonton is back! If you’ve got a few minutes you can let our city’s alt-weekly newspaper know what businesses, organizations and people make Edmonton a great place to live.